San Joaquin County Biographies
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
CHARLES HAAS.
One of Stockton's honored pioneers, the late Charles Haas was a leading
merchant of this city. He died July 21, 1911, in his eighty-fourth year, having
spent fifty-three years of his life in this city, with whose progress and
development he was prominently identified. He was born in Germany on January 12,
1827, in the town of Waldurn, Baden, and was one of that group of high thinking
and liberty loving men which came out of Germany by reason of the Revolution of
1848�that movement which Morse Stephens, the historian, often referred to as
having brought to this country the very highest type of men. His early life was
spent in his native town, where he had his early education, and at the age of
fourteen he served for a time as copy clerk in the Probate Court.
In 1842, at the age of fifteen, he started out on foot to tour the
country and learn his trade, as was the custom of the times. From 1842 to 1845
he lived in Vienna and served his apprenticeship as a watch�maker. The training
was most exacting and accentuated in him that thoroughness and integrity which
were characteristic of his whole life. The stories he used to tell of this
period of his life were very interesting, such as earning his passage by helping
to row a boat down the Danube to Vienna, evading the customs officials that he
might go to Trieste to look at the sea for the first time, carrying home
offerings to be made at the Cathedral in his native town, where certain sacred
relics were worshipped.
On his return to Waldurn, at the age of eighteen, he remained for about
a year, but the wanderlust caused him to make a second trip lasting about two
years, this time across the Alps by way of the Simplon Pass into Italy, with
stops in Switzerland. Returning home at the age of twenty-one he was drafted
into the army, according to the custom of all continental countries. During this
time the revolutionary movement for greater freedom and against militarism and
Prussian aggressiveness was permeating Germany, as were similar movements in
France and Italy against their over-lords. Mr. Haas joined in this movement for
greater liberty, and when the revolt came and was crushed, he fled to
Switzerland, and from there, by means of funds sent to him by his family, he
came to New York, arriving in 1849 to start in the new world. Later on his
parents, brothers and sisters all came to America and lived to ripe old ages.
One brother died recently in Portland, Ore., at the age of ninety-six, while one
sister is living and active at the age of ninety-three.
From New York Charles Haas went to Poughkeepsie on the Hudson, where he
was employed and for a time managed the business of John Morgan of that city. In
1852 the desire to move on with the new country led him to set sail for
California. Traveling by way of Panama he walked across the Isthmus and embarked
for San Francisco. He often joked about his first experience in California. When
he came ashore he had just twenty-five cents left. He went to the address of a
friend, who had preceded him to San Francisco, only to find him moved. Walking
into a nearby store he asked for a cigar, for which the clerk accepted his
twenty-five cents in a condescending manner, the price being "two bits," of
which he had never heard. On inquiring about his friend, the clerk said he had
never heard of him. He was therefore without friends or money, but he had a
smoke and, incidentally, it may be said that this was characteristic, because he
loved his cigar and always had one close at hand. The day of his arrival was not
over before he had employment and inside of a month he had established his own
business on Commercial Street, which was then built out over the water and known
as Long Wharf.
In 1853 Mr. Haas bought an interest in the firm of Lortzendorf &
Company, wholesale jewelry manufacturers, whose place of business was on Jackson
Street near Montgomery. His association in the wholesale business caused him to
travel through the interior and he made regular trips through the northern and
southern mines along the mother lode. These trips took him by steamer to
Sacramento and Stockton. Realizing the possibilities of a location in Stockton,
Mr. Haas arranged in June, 1858, for the purchase by his firm of the jewelry
business of J. & C. Ling, which was established in 1850. Old newspaper clippings
of these times speak of the first location of this store as being on "Levee
Street, opposite the Bridge," which is today Weber Avenue between Main and El
Dorado Streets. In September, 1853, the store was moved to a one-story wooden
building on El Dorado Street. The fire of February 21, 1855, swept out this
store, and the rest of the block, but the business was re�established in the
same location.
The business district of Stockton began to shift from El Dorado Street,
and in November, 1875, Charles Haas established a second store on Main Street,
with his son, Charles J., in charge, under the firm name of Charles Haas & Son.
Three years later the El Dorado Street business was given up and the two stores
combined at 204 Main Street, one door west of their present location. This firm
name held for twenty-five years, or until the business was incorporated in 1902,
with Charles Haas and his four sons as partners, and the firm became Charles
Haas & Sons, as it is today. On May 3, 1903, a second fire occurred and the
entire building was demolished. Though suffering a considerable loss, the firm
saved the contents of the vaults, among them the many watches left for repair.
Since 1850 over 100,000 chronometers had passed through the repair department
and a systematic record had been kept of them.
Charles Haas was active in the management of the business until his
demise, being widely recognized as an expert in his field, a genuine artist as
well as an able business man. In 1868, while on a trip to the East, he selected
the town clock which was formerly on the old courthouse and is now on the Eureka
Engine House. This clock was paid for by popular subscription and the original
list of subscribers, now in possession of Robert M. Haas, is an interesting one,
and may be considered as the "Blue Book" of its day.
Throughout the long period of his residence in Stockton Mr. Haas never
failed to take an active and helpful part in the work of public progress. He was
one of the founders and charter members of the Stockton Savings and Loan
Society, and served continuously as a director of that institution until his
death. In 1872 he was chosen City Treasurer of Stockton, in which capacity he
served one term. He was a charter member of the Turnverein Societies in both
Poughkeepsie and San Francisco, and was one of the founders of the local
society. In 1876 he was instrumental in the building of the society hall, and as
one of the oldest members of this society it was his custom to lead the
celebration on each New Year's Eve. For more than half a century, with but one
exception, he brought in the punch bowl at the stroke of twelve. On June 20.
1854, Mr. Haas was married in San Francisco to Miss Elizabeth Kuhn, a native of
Germany. They became the parents of three sons, Charles J., Herman O., and
Robert M. Charles J. Haas was married in Stockton in 1875 to Miss Hattie M.
Baldwin, of that city. Herman O. Haas is a resident of San Francisco. Robert M.
Haas was married in 1887 to Miss Mary Fann, a native of Missouri, and they have
a son, R. Raymond Haas, who is now treasurer of Charles Haas & Sons. Robert M.
Haas is now president and manager of the firm of Charles Haas & Sons. In 1874 he
became his father's business associate, and he has since been actively
identified with the establishment and its various enterprises.
In 1866 Charles Haas suffered the loss of his wife, who died in Stockton
on May 30, of that year. On June 15, 1869, he was again married, in
Poughkeepsie,
N. Y., to Miss Charlotte Merk, a native of that state. One son was born to them,
Edward F. Haas, a civil engineer, residing in San Francisco; he was married in
Stockton, on October 18, 1906, to Miss Mabel Thompson, of that city, and they
have two children�Edward Thompson and Alice Charlotte.
In every relation of life Charles Haas was true to high and honorable
principles. His integrity in business affairs, his loyalty in matters of
citizenship, his fidelity to the ties of friendship, and his devotion to home
and family, were characteristics which won for him the high and enduring regard
of all with whom he was associated.
History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co.,
1923
p 1092
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.